Doomsday Spiritual Artifact Master
chapter-119

Chapter 119 – Life-and-Death Marathon (10)

◎ Missing Check-in point ◎

Outside the Greenwater City at the intersection of the expressway, an off-road pickup truck revved its engine to the max, wildly drifting towards them. As it approached, the exaggerated 180-degree spin of the vehicle narrowly stopped just in time, with Zhuang Qingyan and Fang Zhixu already waiting for a while.

Song Ke leaned out from the passenger seat, “Old Fang, hurry up!”

Ever since Zhuang Qingyan stopped calling him “Doctor Fang” and switched to “Old Fang,” everyone else had followed suit.

Fang Zhixu briskly hopped onto the pickup truck. His gaze scanned inside and saw that the driver’s seat was now occupied by Lu Xiaoyu; it was the same car he had been driving earlier. Xu Xing was seated in the back, with Lin Youyou supporting someone in the middle. Fang Zhixu breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing them.

The reason for their urgency was because Su Cha had been injured.

As a close combat expert of the offensive-type ability, clashes resulting in injuries and bloodshed were unavoidable. However, this time Su Cha was genuinely unlucky. He had been sent flying by the zombie bear in a direction where there happened to be protruding steel bars. Despite Su Cha’s exceptional reflexes allowing him to twist away in time to avoid a fatal puncture, he still collided with the joint, causing his whole body to vibrate intensely.

After a quick examination, Fang Zhixu swiftly said, “He’s broken two ribs, but luckily, they are not displaced. I will fix them so that they will not affect the movement.”

A bright white energy flowed from Fang Zhixu’s palms—an A-level healing ability—significantly easing Su Cha’s pain, and his complexion returned to normal.

Lin Youyou reclined the seat, squatting in front of Su Cha. She gently pressed around the wound, saying, “Does it hurt? If it does, speak up; sister will help you feel better.”

After knowing that everything was fine, her tightly pursed red lips relaxed, and she even had the mind to tease Su Cha.

Su Cha, at a height of 1.9 meters, curled back a bit, the muscles of his waist and legs instantly tensed, resembling a stimulated cheetah ready to pounce on its prey at any moment. However, after the tension, he still crouched down, allowing Lin Youyou to examine him up and down. “…It’s really okay,” he paused and added in a low voice, “…don’t joke about it.”

Meanwhile, Zhuang Qingyan didn’t hurry to get on the car. He took out a bottle of spray from his bag and handed it to Song Ke. “Here.”

“What’s this?”

“Molecular deodorizer. I thought the captain might really need it.”

“…”

Song Ke stared at Zhuang Qingyan, momentarily unable to tell whether he was genuinely giving a helpful reminder or teasing her.

Ever since Zhuang Qingyan had his leg surgery, he visibly became more cheerful, often teasing Song Ke and frequently getting on her nerves.

Song Ke, expressionless, unscrewed the bottle and aimed it at Zhuang Qingyan, giving a vigorous spray.

“Song Keke!” Zhuang Qingyan raised his hand to block, but with little effect. He used his forearm to hold down the wheelchair, raised his right leg slightly, and made a half-rising motion. Unfortunately, he had little support and fell back down.

Song Ke slammed the car door shut, leaning against the window, smiling triumphantly at him, the little dimples filled with joy at the corners of her cheeks.

“Beep beep—” The driver, Lu Xiaoyu, couldn’t bear watching the scene from the driver’s seat and bluntly honked the horn. “Hey, have you forgotten? We’re still in a marathon!”

…

“Greenwater City doesn’t have a zombie tide, nor does it boast an ecological scenic area. Its modernization is commendable, with well-established infrastructure, and there aren’t any wild animals, reducing the likelihood of mutated ferocious beasts,” Zhuang Qingyan calmly analyzed as he viewed the footage captured by the drone.

“It seems like there’s nothing particularly noteworthy about it,” Lin Youyou frowned, showing difficulty. “So, where could its check-in point be?”

After studying the city map for a while, they found it challenging to make an effective judgment based on the information they currently possessed.

“Let’s stick to the old method of searching for anomalous data, or else we’ll have to search the city.”

Lin Youyou inadvertently switched to the thermal imaging mode with a tap of her finger. The map instantly shrank, revealing the overall view of the surrounding areas. As an essential transportation hub in the eastern part of the Alliance, Greenwater City bordered three C districts to the north and south and was surrounded by the D districts in the east and west. At this moment, most of its neighboring areas appeared in dark gray, a sign indicating the city’s occupation by the zombie tide.

“I have a question,” Fang Zhixun spoke after a moment of silence, “Is the number of refugees in Greenwater City too high?”

According to the thermal imaging display, both Greenwater City and nearby shelters were surrounded by a multitude of colorful heat sources. Despite the real-time view showing refugees fleeing, the sight and numbers were enough to chill one’s heart.

“Exactly,” Zhuang Qingyan nodded slowly, “And it’s increasing.”

As he spoke, he paused, faintly sensing why Ilya chose Greenwater City.

The off-road pickup raced ahead, quickly approaching Greenwater City. They could already see the towering walls and iron mesh fences from a distance. However, the road gradually narrowed, and the flow of people became increasingly dense. When passing by shelters, Lu Xiaoyu had to slow down the vehicle.

Countless refugees instantly swarmed the pickup truck, surrounding it completely. Some grasped the bumper, attempting to climb onto the roof, while others desperately banged on the glass windows, using hand gestures to plead with those inside to open the doors. In such a situation, V587’s vehicle could hardly move an inch.

Looking up, they were surrounded by faces in panic from all directions: elderly individuals with tears streaming down their faces, women whose disheveled hair held infants tightly, and aggressive men punching and kicking the vehicle while yelling, “Open the door!”

The pickup truck had one-way tinted glass, rendering the outside situation obscure to those inside, but those within could clearly see what was happening.

“What do they want?!” Xu Xing angrily shouted, almost as if in response, the loud banging of a hammer striking the car echoed.

“They want to get into the city,” Fang Zhixu sighed. “They want us to take them in.”

“We can’t open the doors,” Zhuang Qingyan said coldly.

“We can’t… open… the doors.” He slowed his speech, repeating the words with firmness.

Silence enveloped the people inside the car.

Song Ke’s long eyelashes drooped down silently, offering no opposition.

Zhuang Qingyan was right. Wanting to save people also meant assessing whether they had the capability. These refugees were undoubtedly in a dire situation, but one car couldn’t save them all. Opening the doors at this moment would only lead to greater chaos, with unpredictable consequences.

“Accelerate. Charge through,” Zhuang Qingyan spoke sternly.

The engine roared louder. Some of the refugees hesitated and backed off, but more daring ones clung to the roof, banging it with hard objects.

Lu Xiaoyu’s mechanical arm forcefully pressed the accelerator. The off-road pickup truck surged forward like a sharp axe splitting through water, unstoppable, causing those blocking the path to startle and dodge, watching helplessly as the truck sped toward the city gate.

Greenwater City was completely sealed off, covered by a thick iron mesh outside the city walls, with high-voltage electric currents shimmering. An official in municipal hall uniform stood on a lookout post three to four meters above the ground, holding a megaphone, shouting hoarsely:

“We’re already overloaded with the refugees we’ve accepted. We can’t allow more people in.”

“Please, everyone, wait a little longer! Please be patient!”

“If there’s any extra space, we’ll make sure to let everyone in at the earliest opportunity!”

The city gate was crowded with refugees unwilling to leave. Even smashing the horn had no effect. Zhuang Qingyan opened the public address system and spoke upwards, “We’re participants in the Throne Race Competition, please allow us entry into the city.”

Hearing the words “entry into the city,” the surrounding crowd became instantly excited, pushing forward madly, managing to move the off-road pickup truck half a meter.

The official was in a panic, adamantly refusing to open the gate, shouting, “Permission granted to enter, find your own way in!”

Find their own way in… that meant finding their own way.

Song Ke sighed.

The sunroof of the pickup truck opened, and with swift movements, Song Ke threw a section of a spiritual weapon grappling hook that hooked onto the entrance of the lookout post. Then, with a single hand, she pulled up Zhuang Qingyan. They soared into the air, Song Ke using the wall to propel herself up, showcasing her agility to everyone—like a skilled acrobat.

Su Cha lifted Lin Youyou, following the same procedure, closely behind Song Ke’s landing.

With Xu Xing and Fang Zhixu held by Lu Xiaoyu on each side, his mechanical arms extended, grabbing the wall, and lifting them up, safely landing them atop.

In just a few seconds, all seven members of V587 arrived at the lookout post.

Before the official finished his sentence of “find your own way in,” a row of people suddenly appeared in front of him.

“We’re in,” Song Ke said calmly.

The official, holding the megaphone, stared in amazement, “That was… pretty quick.”

After the completion of the player verification process, Song Ke glanced once more at the crowded masses below the city walls before turning away.

The situation inside Greenwater City wasn’t much better than outside. The influx of people from nearby cities had overwhelmed it.

Streets and alleys were lined with makeshift tents, refugees sleeping on the ground, enduring harsh conditions. The atmosphere was bleak, filled with anxiety and fear.

Wanting to emulate their strategy in Rainbow Cloud City by finding the check-in point drone, V587 found that the committee might have become wary and retrieved the drones. Besides the filming drone, Lu Xiaoyu couldn’t detect any useful data. They spent half a day circling within the city but found no anomalies.

“Now what do we do?” Song Ke asked.

Zhuang Qingyan lowered his gaze towards the visible refugee camps and uttered a single word.

“Wait.”

If he guessed correctly, the check-in point would soon manifest on its own.

Outside Greenwater City, shortly after V587 entered, several steamships and floating cars followed suit.

The gathering refugees grew increasingly agitated, unable to contain their angry queries:

“Why can they go in?”

“Let us in, the zombie tide is coming, let us in!!”

“Open the doors!”

The officials from the municipal hall shouted themselves hoarse, but the refugees, enveloped in the shadow of the zombie tide, had lost their rationality completely. With eyes reddened, they pushed forward blindly, unwilling to touch the high-voltage electric fence, instead, colliding with the lower protective barriers.

“Boom—”

A deafening noise reverberated as those in the front, propelled by their momentum, unexpectedly fell, but the refugees behind were oblivious, continuing their frenzied push, trampling their compatriots mercilessly.

“Boom—”

The official on the lookout post staggered, and bits of wall debris fell. Armed soldiers aimed at the crowd below, uncertain where to engage.

“Boom—”

The sturdy barriers gave way, the city gates teetered, and thousands upon thousands of refugees, seeing a glimmer of hope, broke free, rushing madly towards Greenwater City.

From a high vantage point, the mass of people, distorted figures running amok, bore no distinction from the zombie tide.

Inside the city, Song Ke and the others received a system prompt: “Greenwater City check-in point has appeared.”